Thebes: Equinox

Roland's Log

The city of Skybridge is aptly named after the massive magical bridge protruding from the city’s center into the sky, connecting it to the multitude of floating islands which I’m told are the remains of a world called Thebes. Jocelyn is the patron immortal of the city. She has been described as frigid, which I would agree with. She is obsessed with not interfering with what she refers to as the affairs of mortals, though it feels more like she is sitting in the center of her shiny city while whats left of creation crumbles around her.

Skybridge is divided up into districts ruled of course by wealthy aristocracy, of which Iris is apparently descended from. So we met the steward of what is now Iris’ manor. Later the sphinx Iseret was kind enough to forge some kind of magical doorway into the house, which we can access from any door with the aid of a magical key. So, in effect, we have what could be considered a permanent base of operations despite what I assume will be a considerable amount of traveling.

Another one of the districts is ruled by the Voss family, of which Scarlet and her surprise daughter Margery are heir to. Naturally Datsielk intended to marry this girl, who we would later learn has spent the entirety of her brief life being brainwashed into thinking he’s a nice guy. Everyone in town knew about and seemed to be excited about the coming wedding, and important people were traveling from afar to attend. We had no idea how this wedding would further Datsielk’s goals.

Our first night in town we returned to Luitgarde’s ancestral keep, which was promptly attacked and set aflame by white elves. We escaped with the drunken inhabitants of the house through cave tunnel in the basement. This attack and subsequent fire, we would learn after returning to the keep, was to clear the way for a man(?) who called himself Ambassador Danzig to extract an artifact that had apparently been hidden within the keep long ago. After some polite conversation we were beset by his allies, and he escaped with the artifact.

In the process of healing Mars of her corruption, I was alerted to the presence of another magical item of interest. What did it do exactly? Well dammit as usual I didn’t know. I did know however that certain parties were interested in acquiring it before the wedding. One of those parties seemed to be allied with the immortal Hannaniah. So, grasping at straws, we decided to attempt to attain the damn thing.

After following some leads, we found ourselves escorted in a magic carriage to a mansion in the jungle outside of town. The mansion was of course owned by Ambassador Danzig who, course, had the item we were in search of. He was persuaded to loan us the item, under the condition that we would owe him a favor.

We took the orb to a book shop with Hananiah’s insignia visible from the outside. There were a couple of phobans inside. They weren’t too polite or accommodating or explainy but they did do some work on the orb. Modified it somehow.

A sphinx explained to us that if we placed the parts of the orb around the magical nexus it would allow for powerful illusions to go undetected by Jocelyn and others. I ran around and placed them, and met Katarine, the steward of the silent house who we hadn’t seen in some time, outside the compound. We walked in, and Katarine revealed herself to be Hananiah! After making some frowny faces, Jocelyn was imprisoned by Hananiah in what appeared to be a pane of glass, and stowed away. Hananiah then assumed Jocelyn’s form, summoned all the other immortals, and told them to free Zachariah from prison. Then, she went about helping us remove Datsielks forces which had metastasized throughout the city.

We marched with Jocelyn’s guard to the Voss estate and raided it in search of the artifact stolen from Luitgard’s keep. I tracked it through the basement, and through a tunnel that led beneath the city. We encountered a carriage being driven by Scarlet and escorted by some white elves outside of the gate to skybridge(otherwise known as big customs).

The ensuing battle seemed to go smoothly enough. We were even accompanied by Hananiah(disguised as Jocelyn). Hananiah went directly into the cabin while we dealt with Scarlet and her goons outside, and opened a coffin that had Datsielk was hiding in. The area was submerged in a powerful magical darkness, and it didn’t sound like Hananiah was faring too well. The only think any of us could see in the darkness was Iris. I made my way over to her with the intention of cutting our losses and bearing her from the blackness. She hesitated though, and said she saw this in a dream. She then hurled her weapon at Datsielk, and seemed to wound him mortally. He dropped the artifact, and disappeared with his darkness. This left me free to collect a fleeing Scarlet.

In the aftermath of the battle, everyone inside the Voss manor was rounded up and arrested. I captured Scarlet, and removed that strange red glowing gem from her eye socket, which I knew would kill her. Before doing so, I tried to convince her to come back to life when called, that we could heal her. And come back she did. I constructed a special prison on Iris’ estate to house poor Margery, in the hopes of rehabilitating her. I released the rest of the prisoners, which included some dignitaries from Azure City.

We also had dinner with Ambassador Danzig at his estate, who was grateful in our hand in saving ‘his city’ from, what we later learned, was some kind of magical bomb that when powered by the magical energies coursing through the sky bridge, would have converted the inhabitants of the city to undead creatures. He also warned us about a disease that exists in the lands controlled by Violus, though he had no knowledge on how to avoid or cure it.

There was also the matter of the hidden army waiting to march on the city once the undead bomb had gone off. They were dispatched easily enough with the aid of Roc and Whisper.

This leaves us free to journey on to Azure City, which we learned has another hidden force waiting for some unknown que to attack.

Roland's Log

After escaping New Thebes, we traveled along the road to Skybridge City. Along the way there were some partially abandoned towns which we encouraged to fully evacuate in preparation of the approaching army. This led to an ever growing gaggle of refugees which made increasingly slower time along the road. This marks, by the way, the third mass of displaced peoples I have helped to relocate. Before we entered the Forbidden Valley, Vi left us out of concern that her presence was worsening our corruption. By the way, our entire party is apparently corrupted by some trixie white elf magic. Iris has it the worst, so we agreed to expend one of our limited wishes to lessen her load.

Also of interest, we were approached by a sphinx which knew all of our names, gifted me with the hookah from the Towers of Silence, and began following Luitgard as an animal companion. It’s name is Iseret, and it is somehow linked to Hananniah.

The first half of travel through the valley was as uninteresting as Luitgard and Ashley promised it would be. We eventually approached two angels who were locked in battle, frozen in time. Some exploration led us to an abandoned bard school in the forest, which had apparently been founded by Iris’ parents! We found a journal written by her mother, which I read to and then gave to Iris. Iris wailed on an organ in the building, which attracted the attention of a former tenant of the place. We spent the evening on the beach and ate fish, and he told stories about Iris’ long lost parents.

The following day we made our way back to the frozen angels. Iris touched one of them, and experienced what seemed to be a great deal of unpleasantness. This summoned two figures who appeared before us in a flash of lighting. They were aspects of Roc and Whisper, and they invited us to travel with them to their hidden city. We accepted, sending the mass of people on without us. They shouldn’t have been too difficult to catch up with…

They led us through a mountain pass, which led to a massive and verdant forest. An impossibly large staircase jutted up from the forest floor and eventually led to the city itself.
The Forbidden City was composed of concentric rings suspended in the sky. The streets were paved with bisected opals set in gold. Even the “lesser” living spaces were beautifully decorated. What I’m trying to say is that the city was impossibly well appointed.

The two immortals granted each of us two boons. For mine, I chose to have Iris cured of her corruption. For the other Roc offered to teach me his lightning teleportation trick, to which I agreed. They also gave us some salient information regarding our quest to save existence. For example, there are four quasi elemental pillars holding everything up. Three of them have already been defiled using some super secret scrolls stolen by some asshole. The fourth scroll, I suspect, is hidden in the hookah I carry. We were also given some tactical information on the battle that will likely ensue for Skybridge City. We left the Forbidden Valley with renewed purpose.

Speaking of purpose, where the hell did our massive throng of refugees get off to? We managed to track them to a point in the road where they seemed to just up and vanish. Further investigation led us to a mysterious house a fair distance away near some hills. The interior of the house seemed to be a lively party attended and worked by people who lived nearby at least hundreds of years ago. Harolde grew tired of this and dispelled the illusion, leaving us in a strange and dilapidated structure. The basement had an elaborate iron door that seemed almost organic in nature. Cho ran his face into it a few times, and managed to pry it off the hinges.

This led us into a sort of organic metal cave, or perhaps it would be better to call it a gullet. Our refugees were chained in massive lines where they were being dropped, one by one, into a massive furnace. Their deaths seemed to feed the structure we were in somehow. Freeing them took some creative spell work and elbow chain ripping grease, but eventually we managed. I had to stoneshape a hole in the side of the building, which caused the house to groan and shake. As people escaped the house, it became louder and more erratic. I suspected that this was only going to get more dire, so used that nifty trick Roc taught me to lightning teleport us all to safety. Standing a fair distance away, the house shook loose from its place in the hills. It seems it was constructed around a massive iron clockwork beast, and it seemed to be angry that we stole it’s meal from it’s stomach. We fought and destroyed it, and excavated the magical contents that animated it. Conveniently, those contents are made of pure gold and gemstones.

We travelled onward towards skybridge city, after a short detour to the crater where our former space home used to be(along with evidence of Winston’s brother). Near Skybridge we approached a large and well fortified keep. This keep is apparently where Luitgard’s mother lives. I encouraged her to accompany us up there for a visit, since Mars is likely of some relation and seemed to have some interest in exploring her mysterious past. We learned that her mother, Gerta, is something of a sadistic libertine. This makes it more likely still that she is connected somehow to Mars, since her mother and grandmother and on down the line were sadistic psychos.

Inside the keep there seemed to be some kind of orgy party happening, and the guards seemed bemused and bored. Perhaps even lazy. Upon entering we were greeted by Gerta, who was incredibly angry at her long lost daughter. Mars was also angry. Gerta led her daughter by the arm up to her quarters, got dressed, and ran back down to sick the pack of white elves that were apparently hanging out in the house on us. We dispatched them, and in the heat of battle Harolde also killed Gerta.

After scavenging the necessary materials, and no small amount of convincing both Harolde and Mars that Gerta should be resuscitated if for no other reason than she’s Luitgarde’s damn mother, she was returned to life. She, like Felipe, returned with eyes similar to our own. The new eye color made her no more cooperative or less hellbent on assisting the enemies of all who exist, so I regaled her with a few words of creation. The words, as they often do, moved her to reexamine many of her past deeds. She asked me at one point what I did to her, which I resent somewhat. The calling does not control or twist the mind as she implied, but instead cleans some of whatever tainted her mind and soul in the first place that caused her to act in opposition to all life around her. I helped expose her truer, more undiluted self. The white elves have the ability, it seems, to twist the people they capture into agents of darkness. It stands to reason, then, that there should be someone who can untwist them. And so it shall go wherever we travel; the people who have been under the yoke of evil for so long that they have forgotten themselves will be made to remember, and together we will drive back the seven kingdoms into the void that spawned them.

Roland's Log

We raided the septagram to rescue our friends. With some magic we sneakily entered through the sewers into an office. The building was even larger than it first appeared, due to a vast substructure. In the floors below there were fields of glass tubes with people sleeping inside. We later learned that they were duplicates of people who lived within the city, and the duplicates could be awoken and manipulated while their other slept. Manipulated to what end, I’m still not sure.

We found Mars chained up in what they referred to as a break room. We left the floor of that room slick with blood. No stranger to torture, she composed herself quickly and assisted us in freeing the others. We found Arcturus in a tower below the clone fields. The tower had countless gaians affixed to it, harnessing their psionic energy. The tower seemed to feed down into a glass atrium where Dietlinde was being held and tortured by a cadre of blight nymphs. After extricating Dietlinde from the nightmarish room we met briefly a man named Datsielk, and his young charge Violet. He expressed interest in us, and left us on our way without a fight. He seemed curious to see how we would escape the compound.

On our way out we also had the opportunity to free Violianna, who took it upon herself to ‘rescue’ us when it seemed we were in particular danger. We escaped through a different office and back out into the sewer. That’s when things really began to fall apart…

Our goal was to find a safe place to rest, so I decided to hold up at the two torches, a tavern operated by Scarlet, whose double we ‘rescued’ in the clone fields. It seemed the incident drove her a little mad, and she began killing any pale red headed woman in sight, of which there were a surprisingly large amount. She had been arrested and was being escorted to the septagram so, already exhausted and drained of resources, I went in search of her. Finding the wagon was not too difficult, but it was surprisingly well guarded, and my allies were far behind. As a bird, I entered the wagon hoping she would be alone inside the wagon at least. To my horror, Violet was riding along with her. We conversed briefly, and she sent me on my way. I then endeavored to at least kill the horses pulling the wagon in the hopes it would give my allies time to catch up and formulate a rescue plan, but I was somehow noticed casting spells in the sky. With regret, I quit the scene.

While this was happening, riots were erupting all over the city. One of, or perhaps the only, honest politician had been unjustly arrested, and people were taking to the streets. I decided to stir them up, hoping some unrest might allow us at least some distraction to rescue Violet, if not the politician, when another serious situation presented itself. Iris would supposedly be performing not too far away. I woke the party and drug them reluctantly to the event, which was filled with generals of the red army. There were two stages. On one was a woman I had not seen before with a band of performers, and on the other was Violet with her own troupe. I approached the stage, and was able to detect an illusion cloaking the strange woman. Then, chaos seemed to be erupting in the back of the venue. My attempts to subtly douse the flames of the chaos led me to believe that the woman singing was somehow causing the fires to spread beyond my or anyone else’s control.

We quickly scoped out the rest of the building and realized that it was only a matter of time before the fires reached a still in the basement, and the entire building would explode. Harolde and Cho forced a door open into the street and escorted the confused and frightened crowd to safety. I held out hope that perhaps Iris had some kind of master plan. Judging by the look on her companion’s face however, it seemed she no longer cared about her or anyone else’s safety so long as the generals burned. I grabbed them and her companion directed us to a secret escape tunnel in the basement right before the building was consumed by flame.

Iris, for her part, didn’t seem to know or care who I was, and didn’t seem overly grateful for the help. As we ran through the sewer it became apparent that traps had been laid in it to slow her progress, and we were being pursued by Violet. Also, despite her agility and prowess, Iris is blind. Her other senses seemed to be almost supernaturally developed to compensate, but they were of little use in the snowstorm we found raging above ground.

Also above ground was Mister Datielk. This caused Iris to all but shut down. My allies were just around the bend, but things seemed bleak. I stood between Datsielk and Iris and told them to run. He smiled politely and inserted some pointy objects into my abdomen as Iris and Sindall(Iris’ companion) meekly ran for their lives. With my friends still close but too far, I resolved myself to the fact that I was probably going to have to die to give Iris even a slim chance of escape. I retreated with them, but remained between them and Datsielk. He took out some kind of animated chain from an orb of darkness he had summoned behind him. Did I mention there was an orb of darkness? He took his chain and coiled it around me. Was he toying with us? Just then my allies turned the corner. Harolde took one look at the situation and ran in the other direction. The supposedly evil Cho heroicly ran into the fray and attempted to wrest the chain from Datsielk’s grip. This would have been foolish if Violiana had not somehow managed to paralize Datsielk and his animated weapons. With a mixture of shame and gratitude, I escaped with my friends.

With a surprising amount of reluctance, Iris led us through the sewer to a tavern called The White Stripe, where her and her allies apparently reside. The establishment is owned by Luitgard, a zha kai with a striking resemblance to Mars. Also of note is Ashley, whose ancestors had apparently made some sort of pact with demonic forces long ago, leaving her with a most unusual countenance. Unlike Iris, her friends were hospitable and warm. Iris at one point wanted to storm out, but was convinced to stay easily enough. Finally, we rested.

The next morning, we set off to rescue Violiana from Datsielk’s mansion. Iris begrudgingly accompanied us, having spent some time there in the past. Of course the district underwent a swift and brutal attack as we tried to leave, which we dealt with, and after a quick pit stop to cure some potential insanity on my part, we were off to the races. The races, in this case, is Datsielk’s house. The city had descended into utter chaos. Some unfortunate souls seemed to be mutating into mindless beasts, fires raged across the city, and death squads were going door to door killing and/or abducting residents.

Datsielk’s house, like the man himself, appears stately and refined. Inside however was a labyrinthine horror show that Iris was kind enough to help us navigate. We found our way to the library Vi was being held in, and encountered…. Scarlet! She was dressed funny, casually dining on the heart of one of her doubles from the clone fields. She had a smoldering red eye where her patch used to be that caused us discomfort when briefly uncovered by her hair. She didn’t put up a fight while we freed Violiana from her bonds. Harolde attempted to cast a spell in her direction, however, and she fled into the walls of the house. The stately countenance of the house disintegrated into mist, and the once beautiful home appeared bleak and menacing, and was filled with a multitude of ghosts. After a pit stop to pick up some personal effects of Iris’, we fled the house. Scarlet, for now, remains at large.

After taking a few moments to get our bearings, we discovered that a massive army was marching through the gate into Birth City. This army would undoubtedly destroy it from the inside, and had to be stopped at all costs. With a well placed spell, I destroyed the main support pillar between the two cities, and the bridge collapsed, sealing off the portal forever. There was now an army standing in the middle of the city with nowhere to go, and what few residents remained in the city didn’t seem to notice or care that everything had gone so horribly wrong. Something had been done to them. We had to leave.

On the way out, I collected Harolde’s young charge Philipe, who happened to be travelling with Clive, my scryer mage friend. Philipe had been heroically slain saving a bag full of children, but his corpse was magically revived by the power of Harolde and Ashley’s prayer! He returned with eyes that resembled our own…

We escaped the city. There was a town directly outside that had been laid to ruin. We travel now along the road that leads to Skybridge City. There are towns along the way, and we will not abandon their residents to the undead armies that are coming from New Thebes. Slowly now, we meander through the roads and jungle on our way to the FORBIDDENVALLEY!

Roland's Log

Our travels lead us to the city of New Thebes, which lies behind a portal in the basement of the high tower of Birth. Unlike Birth, New Thebes is heavily stratified economically by a series of walled off plateaus. In the lowest plateau, which is referred to as the trench, people live in absolute squalor and misery. This is also where we were allowed access to the city, after a suspicious trip through customs.

As we ascended the tiers, Mars stopped off at a bank and exchanged some of her gold(which is illegal here… perhaps as a means to prevent people from owning any true wealth?) for an absurd paper currency. I have taken a vow of poverty and even I think it is ridiculous. I suspect that this is also a view shared by the wanted fugitive, Tarja. Another bank further up the city exploded into the street, and Tarja stood over the rubble with somebody official looking from inside, whom she executed in public. She then fled into the chaos. I gave chase alone, to the chagrin of my comrades.

As I chased her, I realized I was living out a dream I often have about chasing the seeress through strange and filthy streets. In the dream I nearly catch her but she falls off a cliff. In the waking world she was even harder to catch, somehow bending time or reality to blink in and out of my perception. She was acutely aware that I was chasing her, which hurt my feelings a little because I was doing so as a pretty bird. She jumped from the top of the tier into the district below and gave me the slip.

The people seemed to be celebrating spontaneously in the streets below. In my search, I found another element from my dream. A tavern called the two torches. There, I inquired about the seeress as I know her from behind time, which led me to the table of Scarlet. Her name matched her long hair. She carried herself like she knew her way around in a fight, and she wore an eye patch to conceal her constant and obvious desire to wink at me throughout our conversation. I learned that she too was hunting the seeress, whom she knew as Tarja, but with nefarious intent. She proposed that we work together to find her, and that to prove myself I should knock over a jewelry store owned by a man named Datsielk. I assume she had an engagement ring picked out and hoped that when I saw it the mood would strike me to propose to her. Alas, fate had other plans. We stand on opposite sides of Tarja’s well being, so had to part ways. She made some kind of dig about how we might need her help to escape the city. A desperate ploy. I realize now that if we do find a way out of the city, it will be as it’s liberators and not smuggled out in a basket or whatever she had in mind.

I reunited with my comrades, and we finally found some city officials who were willing to take us seriously. We were put up in a tower and offered fresh clothes and accommodations. I of course decided to fly around the city some more and explore. I followed my nose to a massive fallen mage tower that still layed strewn across the city. Supposedly an angel fell from the sky sixteen years ago and knocked it over. Hoping to find the seeress, I instead found a pair of bickering mages. They seemed to be imprisoned and thought maybe I could help them escape. Not knowing whether or not they could be trusted, their captor opened the cell door. White Elf. White elves don’t taste so bad.

United by a common enemy, we set about escaping the apparent secret tower prison complex with a gaggle of their scryer mage friends and a myriad of other desperate seeming prisoner types that always seem to litter white elf habitats. After a wrong turn or two and some combat with some first bemused and then very concerned white elf B team guards, we found our way out of the mazelike structure and back into the trench.

After finding a place to lay low, my new friends told me that my comrades had been captured after I left, and taken to a discouragingly secure location. Strangely, Harolde and Cho were held in the least secure place, and had managed to cause some trouble on their own before I arrived. I laid down some magic, and was perhaps a bit overzealous about jumping into the fray. And hey Tarja was there shooting arrows on our behalf! When the combat finally seemed to be going our way, she signaled some kind of warning and quit the battle. She escaped what we did not; some kind of indigo orb that lit up like a black sun and forced us into some other plane of being. Here, it seemed we could perceive the souls of the living and the dead. Obviously, we had to fight our way through both to destroy the black orb thingie. Speaking of dead souls, my favorite vampire [Violiana] showed up to aid us! The ship she planned to take out of birth turns out to be none other than the Equinox, and that lovable scamp [Winston Scarsdale] won’t leave town without us.

We destroyed the orb, and made a temporary escape from the grounds to lick our wounds. On the way out we freed Harolde’s friend Felipe! He is a very hairy man. Violiana very much wanted to head back to Birth. She is understandably antsy around white elves, since they are notoriously good at controlling the undead. I hope that we become friends, Vi and us, and that she can take some comfort in the fact that we do not abandon our friends to torture and death, even if that requires us to raid the seven pointed structure that seems to be the seat of power for the seven kingdoms in New Thebes. I would prefer to do more planning, which means that Harolde must be beside himself. But there is no time for that, our enemies don’t treat their guests as nicely as we do. Arcturus, Mars, Dietlinde. We are coming.

Roland's Log

The city of Borehole, we soon discovered, was doomed. An overwhelming army of blugori and white elves approached from nightwise, a second goblin army breached the city from within it’s own mines. There was no time to prepare. I ran ahead of the crew in an attempt to corral as many people as possible into the caverns that run beneath a massive swath of the landscape. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew decided to attempt a baffling combat manuever, and we were separated. I can only assume that as I navigated the nightmare network of tunnels with thousands of panicked refugees that the crew worked tirelessly to find us and safely expedite our return to the surface.

Our path through the tunnels required us to pass through drider territory. After some bargaining, their leader agreed to grant us safe passage through their lands as well as the Minotaur territory in exchange for five percent of the surviving populace. I refused to strike such a bargain on my own, and brought it to the people. There were more than enough volunteers. I was both moved by their bravery and saddened to require it. I felt like I had failed them somehow. The driders promised that they would not be harmed, and in fact planned to deliver them to Violus; an ancient Orek leader with whom we already have business. I had the brave volunteers mark their hands with a scar, which I share with them, so that they can be easily identified when I return for them.

The driders’ word was good, and we reached the surface safely. The equinox was not too far away, and we begun the construction of a fleet of boats that could safely bear the refugees to the port of Zechar near the city of Birth. Over the course of the month we investigated a vision of Dietlinde’s which led us to the former home of Cerra; the corporeal form of the Seeress. I also was able to finally deprogram Mars of the destructive worldview inflicted upon her by her mother and her cult. It means a great deal to me to be to able to call upon her as an ally. If there is hope for Mars, who was literally born into the cult of the black flame to find a better path, then there is hope for nearly anyone.

To describe the city of Birth is difficult. Firstly, it is a bureaucratic nightmare. Otherwise, it is a massive and beautiful place. As we ventured deeper into the city, we passed through a series of increasingly secure and elaborate curtain walls. Near the center wall, we again encountered Katarine, the emissary sent to greet us after traveling the fire road. She took us into the Silent House(actually a series of towers), a place she stewards, and has offered us a great deal of assistance within the city.

I think most importantly, she fast tracked us an audience with the high zha. We marched up through the elaborate central tower and gained an audience with….. a tiger. I’m not judging mind you, it’s just that tigers are harder to read than people when it comes to conversation. We were sent away with two scrolls. The first was a call for assistance asking us to enter the city of New Thebes through a portal in the lower reaches of the building. The catch is that nobody who has returned from the portal for the last 15 or 16 years. The second scroll was a call for assistance with an emerging goblin menace on the plains.

Our business in the tower concluded, we went to the forge district to meet the immortal of the district’s namesake. The immortal, as it turns out, is actually a sentient forge. It mysteriously generates shields every day. One of the shields generated that day seemed to be tailor made for Harolde.

I knelt and touched the forge, telling it of our plight, and asked for guidance. I received a vision of the white elves carrying a squirming bag through the portal to New Thebes 15 or 16 years ago. Shit. I should have known. The vision was physically taxing, and I was badly burned. If the forge wanted me to shave my head and eyebrows, it could have just asked.

On our return trip we encountered the kindly greylen vampire who assisted us when we crash teleported night side. It seems that her city has fallen to the Red Army. Apparently, they command a great deal of control over the undead. Our experiences with them thus far seem to confirm this. She was off in seek of guidance. I hope she finds it.

Another order of business: the great library. Katarine set aside some books for us concerning the civil war of the angels. Finally, some knowledge about where we come from and whom we’re up against. The author of the book, Zachariah Gallows, viewed what he called angels and demons with a similar lens, and seemed to think what was left of the universe better off without them. I will admit, it gave me some pause. If and when we find Cerra, our purpose in doing so is to assist her in becoming an angel. I wonder what old Zachariah would say about that. I also wonder if it would matter to any of us.

Roland's Log

Having landed by surprise in a snowbank on a dark and hostile part of the planet, we set about trying not to die. The poor souls that were standing on deck when the atmosphere suddenly shifted to sub arctic temperatures were wounded gravely. One sailor in particular had his wind pipe frozen, and he proceeded to cough up frothy black blood as I set about saving his life. The image lingered in my mind for some time after.

We attempted to repurpose the solar flare function of the harmonics bay to warm the air immediately around our ship and perhaps even melt the snow enough to grant us some water to float on. It did warm the air somewhat, but the boat slowly sank into the surrounding snow.

We were eventually greeted by a greylin woman who seemed to not be bothered by the cold. This was because she apparently counted herself among the undead. She had taken the liberty of dispatching a furnace golem to our location as well, which proved to be of some use later. Not only was she the first undead creature we’ve met who didn’t try to kill us, but she proved to be quite helpful and forthcoming with useful information.

She offered to take the crew to her sanctuary in the south, which, she claimed, was populated by more undead. She insinuated that the dead have more rights than the living there. Grateful as I was for her help, it seemed a bit too ominous to subject our crew to, unless as a last resort. The second option she offered was to ignite for us what she called the fire road. If we followed it lightwards, we would eventually find more hospitable climates. This also seemed like a grueling task to inflict on the crew. In addition, I would prefer not to abandon Dietlinde and the ship.

First officer Harolde chimed in with a seemingly ridiculous idea that turned out to be our best option; reconfigure the harmonics crystals to emit wind instead of fire, and outfit the ship to glide over land. We had enough strong synthetic friends to weather the worst of the hazards outside and complete the task.

Before leaving, I inquired about one of the beings who was sitting at the table with us in the place outside of time, who claimed to be hermited away in an arctic wasteland not unlike the one we found ourselves in. We have almost nothing to go on and push us forward to our goal, so it seemed sensible that the forces of fate would place her along our path. And it was so, the alchemist was indeed a few short miles away, though not wearing the body she wore at the table. This is troubling to me, because it means that the seer could be even harder to find than I first imagined.

Slowly, gingerly, I piloted the equinox across the frozen tundra from the harmonics bay. After three days the atmosphere became more hospitable. After a week, we found ourselves at the end of the fire road, although it was never lit, and the strange lodgings resting at it’s zenith. At the end of the road there were structures with beds and shelter for most of the crew, and a nearby tribal zachai village supplied us with food and wine and music. Their only request was that we await an emissary from the north.

So, wait we did. We explored out surroundings, which in addition to zachai were populated by a great number of suprisingly docile tigers. Zekkyra climbed one of the mountains to investigate a strange light at the top and returned with an amulet.

The emissary arrived with a small retinue of guards. She had many questions, and I explained to her at length our story up until that point. One of her guards knew of a pass to the south that would be big enough to navigate our ship through and continue lightwards.

Another week of air sailing went by. It was painfully slow going at times, and the tribal zachai villages that dotted the planescape were not as trusting or hospitable as their cousins. None the less, we found our way to the sea. We also located our long lost probe droid. And a strange city called Bore Hole.

Bore Hole seems to be mostly populated by phobans. They run a loose ship, to say the least. Despite this there seems to be a worthwhile vein of merchants and sages for the crew to mine. Based on what information I could gather there is a road that passes through the city we avoided earlier, and on into the magically preserved ruins of a planet called Thebes. I suspect that our lost seer resides there, although we have no way of knowing for sure. Fate has put us on the path, and now there is little else to do but walk it, for now.

Personally, I hope we find a way to maneuver the ship fully or at least closer to our destination, wherever that may be. I feel so close to making a breakthrough with Mars, and trying to manage a prisoner on the open road feels… daunting. Further, I know that many of the crew are quite attached to the ship, and I wouldn’t want to leave Dietlinde behind.

The ship is overpopulated though. Some crew members have expressed interest in departing. Perhaps Some of them will decide to live in Bore Hole.

....

asdf

Right before entering the portal we find ourselves at the round table talking about plans. The plan on how we will be born in reality and bring into being an angel. After going through the portal we appear again at the table which is now smaller and missing some people. The Sear asks us if we want to continue because we are going to go past the point of no return. Roland speaks up saying we pretty much must go on. We are asked to find her avatar which looks like her. Roland asks about the blue comet fragments but gets nothing of note back.

After going through the portal bright light almost blinds us. After gaining our view we notice islands with one of them projecting an elemental sphere. Upon closer inspection we notice a war broken out. Joining the fray we destroy every ship but one that escapes! There was a giant circle, some orcs, and a planet. The evil guys had shot some rocks at the main planet that is covered in ice.

Fire, fire everywhere!

Harolde and Winston looted the enemy ship finding two rings and several magical swords. During the search several ships appeared some Uroks and one of the enemy ships similar to the one we were looting. The Uroks tried to talk Cho into joining them on a journey to find all the lost citizens of the world. I pondered what about the Zephyr? More searching reveals notes with writing similar to those ship blueprints found long ago. Also a key found inside a locket. Breaking down doors is hard but 3 vials secured of some liquid. Busting open a chest an explosion of fire engulfs the room. The chest starts making some sound so we wander to the next room. Inside more magical weapons (2 rapiers) and a foot locker.

Going back to the other room… it is now on fire! Zekkyra and I attempt to put out the fire cause this is fun and we want to spend the entire night trying to put out a fire. We failed.

After some random logistics are put together our party heads out. Noticing three huge ships made of a crystal with a doughnut around it emerging from the freeze. The doughnut is covered in a mushroom forest. Roland has a brilliant idea of using a covert ship as a kamikaze ship and sends it into one of the ships. Upon getting closer to the ships we notice they have created a vortex. Then for some reason he decides to send us all through a vortex.

Passing through the vortex we come out on the other side. On the other side there is some sort of defense mechanism that opens fire upon us.

mist kills all

We spend a bunch of time getting down to the harmonics bay and then Winston instantly cuts a hole in the bay which spews out red mist. We attempt to help people out of cages while this mist will just turn them all into zombies.

Leaving them we go back to the island ship and taunt the insect creature. After luring him away from the library we banish him. Back through the library we head down to the harmonics bay.

Once in the harmonics bay Roland closes the door and sets the entire island a flame. Purifying the ship with fire. Then he soothes the ship with cooling winds.

Roland then interviews the crew on the enemy ship to find someone that can use the Zephyrs harmonics bay to create an escalator to bring everyone down. We destroy a magical sword that the bug creature was using. And we attempt to salvage some gear from the enemy ship…

shrooooms

Roland stumbles upon two children playing. In his usual diplomatic mode he attempts to negotiate with them. They agree to show us to their leader. Along the way more children join at a large mushroom. Samual, Felipe, and Adelaide are all attracted to the mushroom. Roland and Cho attempt to restrain them but the children try to intervene.

Roland turns into a wolf and combat begins. Roland attempts to subdue Adelaide. Samual, Felipe, Adelaide, and Zekkyra all begin to crawl towards the mushroom. Cho grabs one of the nymphs. The nymphs start chucking balls of acid at Roland and Cho while the rest continue to crawl. Eventually Roland thinks we are all doomed and he escapes to find another way. Leaving everyone else. Shortly after Zekkyra and Samual shake off the spell effects. Samual notices Cho is leaving the party and requests help with Felipe. Gathering the rest of the party we walk away, however, we are being followed…

The group meets up with Roland and then talks back to Harolde. Upon arrival Harolde notices the nymphs hanging out. Hearing that they are evil he attacks. Then the entire party gets a hankering for mushrooms except Harolde! Slowly every party member gets pulled back to our ship but they still want mushrooms. So Harolde commands us all to go to the enemy ship instead so adventuring can continue.

The plague is upon us.

…pew pew pew still shooting this massive ship. A bright light comes from the side of the ship, upon further focus it appears to be Roland! Harolde directs the science bay to dispatch the tank drone to fly out to grab Roland. Harolde commands the X-Ray gun to see what it can see, it notices some weird spell being cast and the front of the ship opening. Firing a dragons breath shell the front of the ship bursts in flames. The man on the X-Ray gun shoots at some crystal that seems to be pulsating.
Roland makes it back and says that there are a bunch of caged people on the ship. He also confirmed what the X-Ray gun guy was seeing with the spells. After several shots of Flachette and X-Ray gun the spell ends. Everyone in the party escapes the ship via the tank bot.
Back upon our ship, Rad brings a blighted creature with him. Dietlinde implores us to rid the ship of the blight, which we do via FIRE.
Then Roland sets his mind to how to secure the cages from the other ship. At the same time Harolde keeps firing upon the enemy ship via Flachette and X-Ray guns.
Winston salvaged some useless equipment from another ships while we sat around and rested. Winston placed the equipment in the hull and noticed some of the blue rocks had turned into regular rocks.
Samuel, Felipe, Rad, Cho, Adelade, and Roland marshalled over to the Zephyra. When arriving on the Zephyra they notice that there is a reddish mist billowing from the tree ring.